


Like Dust in the Breeze

by immortalbanner



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), M/M, Pining, tagged major character death but also it's from the snap so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 02:51:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20107972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/immortalbanner/pseuds/immortalbanner
Summary: Thor knew his failure to kill Thanos would have consequences but he didn't expect to watch Bruce disappear right in front of him.





	Like Dust in the Breeze

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because apparently I like pain.

Thor watched as Thanos snapped his fingers and disappeared right in front of him.

He gaped down at where he once was, barely holding onto Stormbreaker.

Cap said something to him but Thor could barley hear him. There was a pounding in his head.

Okay. He didn’t stop him this time. That didn’t mean they’d lost. One battle didn’t define that.

“Steve?”

He turned towards the voice. He didn’t know who the man was but that wasn’t what he was focussed on. His arms was turning into dust.

Within a blink, what was a man turned into dust, falling to the floor.

He watched Cap as he stepped towards where the man stood, kneeling to the ground and touched what was left of him.

Thor gaped at the sight. This didn’t make sense… it couldn’t make sense.

“Thor!”

He turned and felt his stomach go into knots as he saw Bruce in the Hulkbuster coming towards him. It opened up and he stepped out. “What happened? Where did he go?”

He swallowed the lump in his throat. He stepped forward and hugged him. He froze in his arms. After a moment he hugged him back.

“I don’t know.”

Bruce pulled back and cupped his face in his hands. “I thought you’d died on the ship.”

He’d been terrified he’d died instead of making it back safely on the bifrost. It had been painful to not know if Bruce was safe.

He wanted to hold him in his arms and kiss him. He wanted to make sure he never slipped from his fingers again.

Before he could say anything, Bruce stepped away from him. He was staring at his hand and Thor realised why.

His arm was disappearing just like Steve’s friend’s. Bruce was gaping at his arm, slowly watching himself wither away.

“Bruce?”

He met his eye. “Thor, I–” and within an instant Bruce was ash on the ground.

Thor stared at where Bruce once was. Like Steve had, he went to kneel down to touch his remains, but he more so collapsed to his knees.

Tears started to fall down his face as he realised what had happened. This was the mark of his failure.

He’d failed before but never like this. He’d only witness two deaths but he already knew it was bigger than he or anyone could even imagine.

“Hey,” he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Rhodey. “We’ll fix this, it’s okay.”

“Can we even fix this?”

A beat passed. “We can only try.”

Even if they couldn’t, he wanted Thanos to perish. He wanted to make sure he suffered at his hand.

Next time, he’d go for the head.

* * *

“Thor, come on. You can’t keep yourself locked in your house forever.”

He didn’t take his eyes off the TV. Brunnhilde was still glaring daggers at him. Korg and Miek didn’t even seem to notice she was there as they played the video game.

They’d been living in New Asgard with what was left of the Asgardians for only a few months. Thor had been dealing with his failure with a lot of alcohol and a lot of what Midgard called ‘video games’. It was a nice distraction. He knew it wasn’t going to last forever but he was going to stretch it out for as long as he could.

“What else is there to do?” he asked, taking a sip of his beer, trying to use the controller with one hand.

“Be there for your people?” Her voice broke. If he hadn’t been wallowing in his own misery he’d might feel bad about it.

“We’re perfectly fine here, Valkyrie,” Korg said. He didn’t take his eyes off the TV.

Miek gave his own squeak as he played the game himself.

“Thor.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Can you please talk to me?”

What was there to say? He’d lost so much in such a short amount of time. His father, his hammer, his planet, his brother, his almost-lover.

He was the reason half of the universe was gone. There was no way to fix that. It was hard to live with yourself when it was your fault. He had the power to stop him yet he didn’t.

Brunnhilde was definitely not the kind to listen. She took his arm and pulled him up. “C’mon, I’m gonna get some real food into you.”

He let her drag him to her own house. It was a short walk from it, and even smaller than what was considered the ‘royal quarters’. She pushed him onto the couch while she started to make him something to eat in the adjacent kitchen.

“I’m not the best cook and I’m having trouble working with Midgardian food,” she said. She had some bread in front of her and an assortment of sandwich meat and spreads.

“I’m not picky.”

She gave him a smile before returning back to the sandwich. She soon came with two plates and sat with him as she handed him one of them.

“You didn’t have to do this.” He picked up the sandwich, turning it in his hand to inspect it. It seemed to be a mixture of Nutella, chicken loaf, and hot salami. He took a bite of it, not thinking too much about the clashing flavours.

“No, I did. If I weren’t careful you’d probably just live on beer and whatever unhealthy food you pull out.”

He gave her a small smile before taking another bite.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

‘It’ was nothing but the snap. When it had happened, she had been with the Asgardians taking them to somewhere safe on the emergency evacuation ship. Then she had to watch half of the Asgardians die. It had been almost impossible to explain to her he was the one who was able to stop it but didn’t.

“Not so much.”

She nodded, taking a bite of her own sandwich. She grimaced. “This is awful.”

He snorted. “Yeah.”

She took another bite anyway. “Can I ask? You and Bruce… what exactly was between the two of you?”

He and Bruce weren’t really something Thor could put into words. Knowing you felt something for someone and that they felt the same way wasn’t the kind of thing that could be defined. He just knew after Sakaar, Bruce was so much more than a teammate, or a friend from work. He wanted him as a lover.

Thor had thought they would figure it out on the long trip back to earth. He’d talk to Loki, then he would talk to Bruce.

Then Thanos came and all was lost.

“That’s not something I can explain in few words.”

She tilted her head. “When I saw the two of you I’d thought you’d taken a lover. Would’ve asked if the time wasn’t wrong.”

He let out a small laugh. “I think I fell in love with him during that time.”

He hadn’t said those words out loud. They had been eating at him for months. He’d even considered telling him after they’d won the battle with Thanos. Maybe kiss him if he let him as they relished in victory.

They could never have that now and that’s what hurt the most.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and she gave it a squeeze. “Did I ever tell you why I survived Hela?”

He shook his head. “Don’t seem to recall.”

She let out a long sigh. “I almost died. One of her swords were coming right at me and I’d fallen off my pegasus. My lover… she put herself right in front of it. She sacrificed herself for me.”

He felt a lump in his throat. He knew she’d experienced loss but not on that scale. War came with a lot of things, but nothing hurts more than someone sacrificing themselves for you.

“Another reason why I used to drink so much. Pain.” She met his eye. “Don’t become like how I was. Don’t drink away your problems because facing reality hurts too much.”

He wanted to promise her that but he couldn’t. He’d barely coped with his mother’s death and the first time he’d thought Loki had died. He wasn’t strong enough to get through it sober.

He ate the rest of his sandwich and stood up. “Thanks for the food. I should be getting back.”

She looked at him and slowly nodded. “Take my advice, okay?”

He’d thought about it as he walked back to his new home.

* * *

“Miek not coming?” Thor asked as Korg walked into the living area and sitting on the couch.

“Nah, he wanted to check out the lake.” He put on his headphones and picked up one of the controllers left on the coffee table.

They played in silence for a while, not exchanging much words. Korg had taken a huge liking to earth’s video games. It was definitely a step up from being forced to fight people everyday.

Thor was still thinking about his conversation with Brunnhilde. Loss of a love was hard on anyone. Whether you felt it was your fault or not. He wasn’t sure if Brunnhilde blamed herself but he doubted it was easy for her to live with knowing she lost her so she could live.

He glanced at Korg who was completely engrossed. He realised he knew little about his life before Sakaar. He’d never brought anything up about it and he clearly didn’t want to go back to Krona.

“Can I ask a kind of personal question?”

“Sure, mate.”

He swallowed before speaking. “Have you ever been in love?”

For the first time, his cheery demeanour disappeared. His hands stilled on the controller even though someone was attacking his character. “Yes. Once. His name was Hiroim, he was a shadow person. He… he died.”

He gaped. “Oh, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“No, it’s fine. He’s why I started the revolution. Or tried to. Corrupt government. They didn’t like shadow people. Police arrested him because they were suspicious of something, we were just minding our own buisiness. Died in custody from ‘unknown cause’.”

He gaped at him. “That’s horrible.”

“I know. It’s fine. Well, no it’s not fine but I have to move on eventually. Even if I do, I’ll always love him.”

He nodded and they played for the rest of the day in silence.

* * *

_Five years later_

Being pulled into to fix his own mess wasn’t what Thor could say he was excited about. He was just desperate to try and do something good.

He hadn’t been ready for going back in time or to see Asgard and his mother. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at Loki when they passed where he had been locked up.

Coming back with Mjölnir almost made it worth it.

The argument of who would do the snap wasn’t so much.

He just wanted to do something right, why wouldn’t anyone let him do that?

“If only Bruce was here, this things made of mostly gamma so he could do it,” Cap muttered.

He gave him a sharp look. “Just tell me it’s my fault he’s gone.” He didn’t mean for his voice to boom but he hated being reminded Bruce wasn’t here.

He was still in love with him. The only person who knew was Brunnhilde. He was so close to having him back and he wanted to do it so he could finally do something good.

“Hey, Point Break, it’s okay.” Stark’s voice was even. “No one blames you.”

He’d heard those words so many times in the last five years and they never made him feel better.

“I’ll do it,” Cap said. “The serum should do something, right?”

Stark looked skeptical. “Well, everyone else here isn’t both super powered up naturally and in a good mental state. Just… take it off if it becomes too much.”

Before anyone else could step in, Cap stepped towards the gauntlet.

There was silence as he put it on, then shouts when he screamed as he went to snap his fingers.

He collapsed to the ground as the gauntlet shoot off his hand. Stark was quickly at his side and Thor couldn’t only watch the ordeal.

Before he could even think, there was an explosion.

* * *

Bruce opened his eyes, realising he was in the middle of Wakanda. He looked around him, trying to figure out where he was. Last he remembered, he was in front of Thor but he didn’t see him anywhere. Just Cap’s friend with what he was sure was a prosthetic but functioned too much like a regular arm he was sure it couldn’t be.

“What happened?” Bruce asked. He looked around. “Where’s Thor?”

“Where’s Steve?” Bucky asked, sounding almost desperate. “What the hell happened?”

There was sweat on the back of his neck. Without a word, he ran back to where he remembered the others being.

He saw Wanda on the ground shaking. Wasn’t Vision – or what was left of him – there to just before?

“Wanda, you okay?” he went to the ground to help her up. She took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. “Do you know what happened?”

She shook her head. “No,” her voice broke. “I don’t remember anything.”

“Banner!”

He turned and saw Sam jogging up to him, still suited up. “Hey, Sam.”

“Where is everyone? I felt like I passed out.”

“Where’s Steve?” Bucky asked as he jogged to their side.

“Okay good, you’re back.”

They all turned to see Okoye walking towards them.

“What the hell happened?” Bucky asked.

She looked between them, a look of dread on her face. “Thanos killed all of you. It’s been five years since the battle.”

He repeated the words in his head. He’d died. Five years had passed.

He lost five years of his life because of a purple alien.

“So what do we do now?” he asked.

His question got answered when Doctor Strange appeared in front of them.

“Okay, I know this might be a bad time but we need your help to defeat Thanos.”

He swallowed. That meant Thanos was still alive. How was he still alive after five years? “What’s happening?”

“We need a bigger army. Thor, Tony, and Steve need help.”

“Thor? He’s okay? He’s alive?” His voice broke a little, enough to get a glance from Sam.

His feelings for Thor weren’t something he’d necessarily expected. He had a feeling Thor felt the same, and whether that changed over five years was something he wasn’t sure of. He remembered almost got the words out, then it was like he’d passed out.

“Yes, he is. Right now but we need help. And an army. Everyone’s coming back to fight.”

He swallowed. Where was the Hulkbuster? He needed to fight, he needed to make sure they won this time.

Except unlike last time, he could feel the familiar feeling pooling at his skin. For maybe the first time, it was more than welcome.

“Bruce, you feeling angry?” Wanda asked. He looked at her, and he saw her eyes were already glowing red.

He was sure his veins were glowing green. “I’m feeling furious.” Thanos had taken away so much and he was more than ready to make him pay.

Doctor Strange gave him an impressed smile. “Want your own portal to the battle?”

He nodded, took a deep breath, and let himself turn green.

* * *

The next thing Bruce remembered, there were two strong arms around him.

He looked up and a smile grew on his face. Thor was gaping down at him, as if he couldn’t believe he was there.

“Hi,” Bruce smiled.

“Hey.”

Bruce reached up and stroked his cheek. His hair was long again. Except unlike the soft hair he’d remembered, it was tangled and matted. His beard had grown out longer than he’d ever seen it and was in a braid. It kind of made him look like a viking, which probably made sense with the whole nordic thing.

He could also feel a soft stomach against his side. One he wanted to curl into and cuddle for the rest of his life.

This wasn’t exactly the Thor he knew five years ago. This was the Thor that had to live through the past five years. Something in him didn’t care, he could feel the core of Thor as he looked down at him with mismatched eyes. The Thor that he’d fallen in love with was still perfectly intact.

He hadn’t gotten a chance to ask Thor how he’d gotten a new eye when he’d first arrived in Wakanda. He’d like the eyepatch but the mismatched colours worked in a weird way.

“How’d Hulk do?”

He was running his hand through his short curls. “Good. He fought off a lot, got a few good punched to Thanos too.”

That came to him as a relief. Bruce assumed he let him out because they probably won. That didn’t guarantee it though.

“Did we win?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”

Bruce smiled and leaned towards him. Their foreheads pressed against each other and he felt warmth pool in his stomach. He bit his lip and took a deep breath. There was the faint smell of alcohol. He’d have to remember to ask about that later.

“I missed you so much,” Thor breathed out, holding onto him tighter. Bruce could feel Thor’s heart pumping in his chest, as well as his own.

He smiled and responded by kissing him. Thor kissed him back, slow and gentle. Two things most people wouldn’t describe him as but were exactly what Bruce knew him to be. He may not be completely aware of what had happened, how things had changed, where the world stood. But being in Thor’s arms were a comfort he was desperate for ever since he’d landed in Doctor’s Strange's home.

He knew there was probably a lot of bad things ahead but he let himself enjoy this moment with the man he loved more than anything in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Korg is canonically gay in the comics and his boyfriend is canonically this guy named Hiroim. I changed things around to make it fit though. 
> 
> Note 2: I know there's no way to know for sure that Valkyrie was Brunnhilde's girlfriend, however that moment was gayer than the Joe Russo scene in Endgame.
> 
> Note 3: I also don't know if Steve would be strong enough to wield the gauntlet but he seemed like the best option without Bruce.


End file.
